Kentucky is a step closer to becoming a food as medicine.

State House Joint Resolution 25 passed out of committee today.

It would direct state agencies to focus on the role nutrition plays and public health issues.

Our McKinsey speaking tells us about the proposal and the food is medicine initiatives already happening around the state?

The goal of the Food is Medicine initiative is to make Kentuckians healthier by connecting the health care industry with the agriculture industry, addressing issues like food insecurity and chronic disease management.

This resolution aligns state agencies around a clear direction, integrating nutrition into care and public health and intentionally connecting that work to Kentucky grown products.

Secondly, it strengthens health outcomes through practical, measurable action.

According to KFF, formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation, 43% of Kentuckians have high blood pressure, 40% are obese, and 11% have diabetes.

Supporters of this resolution say diet and nutrition are critically important to improving our state's health outcomes.

Kentucky is carrying a heavy chronic disease burden, conditions like diabetes and heart disease that are deeply connected to diet and access.

Our hospitals see the downstream effects of this every day.

They also know we cannot outspend a chronic disease crisis with treatment alone.

Food is medicine.

Interventions like program like produce, prescriptions and medically tailored meals for high risk populations are designed to improve outcomes and reduce avoidable costs.

This resolution directs agencies to coordinate with the Kentucky Hospital Association and kDa and other partners to advance these pilots, and, importantly, to evaluate results so we can measure, impact and make smart policy decisions going forward.

The Food is Medicine initiative is already underway in some parts of the state, according to Agriculture Commissioner Jonathan Schell.

The Department of Agriculture and the Kentucky Hospital Association partnered together in 2024 to start initiatives like medically tailored meals, using local ingredients and hosting farmers markets in hospital parking lots.

We're finding that now patients are scheduling their procedures, their intake, their checkups on the days that the farmer's markets are there so that they can not only get their health care taken care of, but also participate in the farmer's market to get their food brought back to the house.

The food is medicine resolution passed the House Health Services Committee unanimously and will next head to the full chamber for consideration there.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Mackenzie Spink.

In a similar vein, Senate Bill five passed unanimously in the upper chamber today.

That bill would allow schools to purchase Kentucky grown food for their students.